Station indicator



(No Mode I 2 SheetsSheet 1.. B. W. LYON. STATION INDICATOR.

Patnted Nov. 20, 1888.,

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

4 B W LYON STATION INDIGATOR.

No. 393,309. Patented'Nov. (20, 1888.

ll'llllllllllllllllllll ll l lllllllllk llllllll I UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

BENJAMIN WV. LYON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PACIFIC INDICATOR COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STATION-INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,309, dated November 20, 1888.

Application filed August 29, 1888. Serial No. 284,077. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN W. LYON, of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in 5 StationIndic-ators; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same. 7

My invention relates to an improved mechanism for actuating stationindicators; and it I is especially designed as an improvement upon a device for which Letters Patent were issued to me June 26, 1888, No. 385,314. In that patent I have shown an indicating-ribbon, a series of winding-drums with an endless chain I or band, a rack, pinion,and ratchet movement, air-cylinder, springs, and lever by which the indicator is moved forward at each point or station.

In my present invention I use a trippingzc lever and a fixed lug or obstruction upon the road-bed, in combination with a rotary disk or screw driven from the car wheel or axle and provided with convolute grooves, together with a lever which engages and operates the indieating mechanism, and a means whereby this lever is caused to engage with the screw, so as to be operated thereby until the station is indicated, after which it is disengaged from the screw and returned to its first position,ready to be again operated.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my invention, Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a side elevation showing part of the car-truck and the bottom of the ear-body with my improvement con nected therewith. Fig. 2 is an end view ot'the mechanism. Fig. 3 is an enlarged View of the slide which engages the screw, the spring, and the tripping-lever.

A is the central cross beam of the cartruck.

B is one of the wheels, and O is a portion of the uniting-frame, all of which are constructed in the usual manner for such truck, but only a sufficient portion is shown in this case to enable me to illustrate my invention and show its attachment thereto.

D is the lug projecting upwardly at some convenient point along the line of the track upon which the car runs. These lugs are placed at such points as to intercept the long arm of the lever E, which is fulerumed to the frame-work of the truck, as shown at F, while the short arm projects horizontally beneath the lever G, which is engaged and moved by it Whenever the long arm of the lever strikes one of the obstructions D.

Upon the truck-frame is mounted a screw. or, as at present shown, adisk, one side of which has formed within it the convolute 6o grooves or channels H.

I is a guide fixed to and supported from the frame of the truck and extending across ata short distance in front of the convolute grooves H of the disk. Upon the guide I a block, J, is fixed to travel, the line of the guide being such that the block will travel radially from the center to the periphery of the grooved disk parallel with its face. The bolt K, plainly shown in Fig. 3, passes transversely through the block J, and by means of the spring L the bolt is forced inward when free to move, so that its inner end will enter the convolute grooves or channels in the face of the disk. This disk is caused to rotate continuously when the car is in motion by means of the belt or chain M passing around a drum or pulley at the back of the disk H,and connected with it or with its shaft,'so that they will move together. The belt or chain M passes around the'pulley N upon the axle of the car-wheel B, and by this means or by direct frictional contact with the pulley, or with the wheel itself, motion is transmitted to the grooved disk. If desired, a screwshaft might be journaled par- 8 5 allel with the sliding block J, the bolt K engaging with its threads in the same manner, and thiswould produce the same result.

It will be manifest that when the inner end of the bolt K rests in the convolute grooves of 0 the disk or the threads of the screw and the latter is rotating it will gradually carry the bolt K, and with it the block J, toward the outer portion of the screw, or toward the rim of the disk, the block J traveling upon the guide 5 I, as above described.

The end of the bolt K comesin contact with a raised portion, 0, fixed in the outer groove or channel of the screw, and this forces the slideK outward until its inner end is entirely 10o clear of the screw-thread or the grooves in the disk. The outer end of the bolt K hasanotch in its lower edge, as shown at P, Fig. 3, and the lever G being fulcrumed upon the side of the block J its short arm extending beneath the bolt K is so formed as to drop into the notch P when the bolt has been forced outward, as above described, and this prevents the spring L from forcing the bolt inward until it is again released by the action of the lever E,when it strikes another of the obstructions D upon the track.

The traveling block Jis connected by links Q, to the lower end of thelever It, which is fulcrumed upon the car-body S, as shown. These links are hinged at the point where they connect with the block J, and also where they connect with the lever It, so that this portion of the mechanism upon the car-truck will have a motion independent of those portions which are supported upon the car and connected with the lever It. The lever B may be connected with any suitable or known form of station'- indicator, which can be operated from it. The form shown in my patent of June, 1888, will illustrate this connection; and it will be seen that when the boltK has been released from the screw-thread, which has carried it from the center outward, a spring connected with the lever R,or with the mechanism which it operates, will draw the block J along the guide I until it is returned toits initial point. hen the lever G is again actuated by the lever IE, it will be disengaged from the notch P in the bolt K, and this will allow the spring L to act and force the bolt inwardly, so that it again engages the screw-thread, and the movement of the block J will again take place, thusactuating the lever It and any mechanism connected with it.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a station-indicator, the means for operating a lever which is connected with an indieating mechanism, consisting of a slide traveling upon a guide and connected with the end of the lever, aeontinuously-rotating piece carried by the car and provided with convolute grooves, means for rotating said piece, and a bolt upon the slide which engages the convolute grooves, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. In a station-indicator, the means for operating the indicating mechanism, consisting of a slide traveling upon a guide and having a link or rod connecting with the indicating mechanism, a rotating disk having convolute l grooves and means for rotating the disk, in combination with a bolt sliding transversely through said block, and a spring whereby the inner end of said bolt is caused to engage with the screw, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

3. In a station-indicator, a disk having convolute grooves journaled upon the car-truck and driven by a band from a pulley upon the car-axle, a slide or block adapted to travel upon a guide with relation to the grooves, as shown, a rod or link connecting said slide with the indicator mechanism upon the car-body, a bolt sliding through the traveling block, and the spring by which its inner end is forced to engage the grooves in the disk, in combination with a lever, G, fulcrumed upon the sliding block, so that its end will fall into the notch P in the bolt and hold it out of contact with the convolute grooves when retracted, substantially as herein described.

4:. In a station-indicator, a means for operating the indicating mechanism, consisting of a rod or link connecting said mechanism with a block which travels upon guides with relation to a rotating convolutely-grooved disk, as shown, a bolt, K, passing transversely through the block, and a spring by which its inner end is caused to engage the eonvolute grooves, in combination with a projecting lug, O, fixed in the outer end of the convolute grooves, so as to force the bolt K out of engagement with the thread, and a lever, Gr, fulcrumed upon the block, so that one end will engage the notchin the outer end of the bolt and retain it out of contact with the thread while the block is returned from the periphery to the ccntcrof the disk, substantially as herein described.

In a station-indicator, a block connected with the indicating mechanism, a bolt passing transversely through said block and engaging the convolute grooves of a disk which is rotated Irom the wheel-axle, a lever, G, one end of which engages a notch in said bolt to hold it out of contact with the screw-threads, in combination with a lever fulcrumed to the cartruck,so as to come in contact with fixed lugs or obstructions upon the line of the traek,whereby said lever actuates the locking-lever Grand releases the bolt upon the sliding block, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

BENJAMIN \V. LYON.

Witnesses:

S. H. N OURSE, H. O. 

